“To be truly memorable, a book must have at its core one of life’s great quests: the quest of love, truth or power.” This quote is true. The critical lens perfectly describes humanity. Human existence revolves around a chase for something quite unknown. But, love tells apart what is wrong and what is right and helps one cease the desire of undermining others to acquire power. Truth, however, is hard to depict as human beings have taken it upon themselves to lie at every occasion possible to maintain, whether it be, their power, or their love. Alan Paton plays with words in his novel, Cry the Beloved Country. This beautiful work of art depicts the life led by the people in the nation of South Africa during the period of apartheid. This novel follows the journey of a man, Stephen Kumalo, whose suffering has led him to the truth about his family in Johannesburg and about the truth of the lives of the people in this city. From the village of Ndotseni in Natal, the beloved priest departs in search of his brother and son, who had left to Johannesburg to pursuit a better life for themselves, and a sister who had left to find her husband, who had long since gone to Johannesburg. Kumalo’s decision is made after he receives a letter from the priest, Msimangu, of Sophiatown, Johannesburg, telling him about the sickness of his sister, Gertrude Kumalo. Thus starts the journey of man beyond the great valleys of Carisbrooke and into the apartheid-polluted city of Johannesburg in which everything thinkable and even unthinkable is happening. On his quest to find the truth about why his brother, his son and his sister came to this filthy city, Kumalo is faced with the tragic and troubling truth of his relative’s life as priest Msimangu tells ...
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... takes the train beyond the great valleys of Carisbrooke, when he searches all over Johannesburg to find his sister and son, he does not know that the truth he decides to acquire will become a life changing reality. The beautiful scenery of the great valleys of Carisbrooke, the toy-like train, and the resplendent architecture of Johannesburg, hides within themselves the truth that is to be revealed. Their comeliness camouflages the horror of the death of a beloved son and the despicable life of a dear sister. Truth is hard to depict as human being has taken it upon themselves to lie at every occasion possible to maintain, whether it be their love or their power; but, when one is faced with truth, life’s meaning disappear and only hope for a better life settles in.
Work Cited
Paton, Alan. Cry, the Beloved Country. New York, NY: Scribner, 1987.
One does not simply pass through life without the presence of suffering and tribulation. This theme is delineated in the excerpt “The Street” from the novel Black Boy, written by Richard Wright. The memoir focuses on the life of a young Richard Wright and the hardships he has come to face within his childhood. During his adolescence, his family was struck by poverty due to the absence of his father, he was left alone to face many responsibilities, and was even forced to fight for himself against violent antagonists. The theme, life is an assessment of one’s true strength is portrayed through the literary elements of conflict and plot.
In the novel Segu, Maryse Conde beautifully constructs personal and in depth images of African history through the use of four main characters that depict the struggles and importance of family in what is now present day Mali. These four characters and also brothers, by the names of Tiekoro, Siga, Naba, and Malobali are faced with a world changing around their beloved city of Bambara with new customs of the Islamic religion and the developing ideas of European commerce and slave trade. These new expansions in Africa become stepping stones for the Troare brothers to face head on and they have brought both victory and heartache for them and their family. These four characters are centralized throughout this novel because they provide the reader with an inside account of what life is like during a time where traditional Africa begins to change due to the forceful injection of conquering settlers and religions. This creates a split between family members, a mixing of cultures, and the loss of one’s traditions in the Bambara society which is a reflection of the (WHAT ARE SOME CHANGES) changes that occur in societies across the world.
Fear and Redemption in Cry the Beloved Country & nbsp; Fear grips all black societies and is widespread not only among black people but also white people. An unborn child will inherit this fear and will be deprived of loving and relishing his country because the greater he loves his country, the greater will be his pain. Paton shows us this throughout this book, but at the same time he also offers deliverance from this pain. This, I believe, is the greater purpose of this book. & nbsp; When Stephen goes to Johannesburg, he has a childlike fear for "the great city" Johannesburg. Khumalo's fears about his family are exactly the same as every other black person in South Africa.
In 1930’s and 1940’s South Africa, many people suffered through traumatic events, whether it be a robbery, a loss of livelihood, a beating, or the ultimate tragedy, the loss of a loved one. In his novel Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton makes sure that this is not left out of his true-to-life, albeit fictional, account of life in South Africa. James Jarvis is the recipient of this tragedy in the novel. His son, Arthur Jarvis, is murdered in his home by Absalom Kumalo during a botched robbery attempt. This sudden loss breaks Jarvis’ heart and sends him reeling. He goes to Johannesburg for the trial and ends up realizing that he really didn’t know his son at all. Reading his son’s writings causes him to have a moral conversion, and he begins his new life when he returns to Ndotsheni. Even though James Jarvis is a man of few words, he has much to say after his son’s death and he speaks through his actions.
“But I hold on to this hope and the promise that He brings. That there will be a place with no more suffering.” These are lyrics from a song by Jeremy Camp and describe the story of the Joad family in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and Kumalo and his tribe in Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. Throughout the novels, the characters are faced with many difficult situations. They rely on their hopes to get them through. Like the lyrics say, they hold on to hope that there will come a time of no more suffering. A sense of hope in difficult times gives people the strength and courage to keep going.
Cry, the Beloved Country is such a controversial novel that people tend to forget the true meaning and message being presented. Paton’s aim in writing the novel was to present and create awareness of the ongoing conflict within South Africa through his unbiased and objective view. The importance of the story lies within the title, which sheds light on South Africa’s slowly crumbling society and land, for it is the citizens and the land itself which are “crying” for their beloved country as it collapses under the pressures of racism, broken tribes and native exploitation.
In Cry, the beloved country, Alan Paton tells the story of his journey across Africa, his experiences with the colonized Africa, and the destruction of the beautiful, pre-colonialism native land of Africa. Heart of Darkness also tells the story of a man and his experiences with colonialism, but a man who comes from a different time period and a very different background than Alan Paton’s Stephen Kumalo. Although, both Joseph Conrad and Alan Paton portray the colonized areas as very negative, death filled, and sinful places, it is when one analyzes the descriptions of the native lands of Africa that the authors reasons for their disapproval of colonialism are truly revealed. When comparing the writing styles of Alan Paton and Joseph Conrad, their descriptions of the land and the people in both works reveal their different attitudes and views towards colonialism. While Paton and Conrad ultimately oppose colonialism, Paton is concerned with the disappearance of African tribal tradition, whereas Conrad is concerned with the perceived corruption of the white colonists.
Korang, Kwaku Larbi. “Making a Post-Eurocentric Humanity: Tragedy, Realism, and Things Fall Apart.” Research in African Literatures 42.2 (2011): 1–29. ProQuest. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Every society has segregations: segregations according to race, according to wealth, according to level of education, and others. Alan Paton in Cry, The Beloved Country uses tone to highlight the racial segregation in South Africa. Racial segregation leads to social inequality.
The young man’s predicaments all revolve around his need to satisfy those that will judge him and he becomes trapped between the apartheid rule and humanity’s desire for equality and respect towards others. This is purely a personal issue that can be resolved solely by him, but should take into the consideration of those involved. We see glimpses of this coming through the young man, but being raised in an era of apartheid it overpowers his common understanding of respect.
Racism Exposed in Cry, the Beloved Country. The purpose of Cry, the Beloved Country, is to awaken the population of South Africa to the racism that is slowly disintegrating the society and its people. The. Alan Paton designs his work to express his views on the injustices and racial hatred that plagues South Africa, in an attempt to bring about change and.
The novel Tsotsi, by Athol Fugard, is a story of redemption and reconciliation, facing the past, and confronts the core elements of human nature. The character going through this journey, who the novel is named after, is a young man who is part of the lowest level of society in a poor shanty town in South Africa. Tsotsi is a thug, someone who kills for money and suffers no remorse. But he starts changing when circumstance finds him in possession of a baby, which acts as a catalyst in his life. A chain of events leads him to regain memories of his childhood and discover why he is the way he is. The novel sets parameters of being “human” and brings these to the consideration of the reader. The reader’s limits of redemption are challenged as Tsotsi comes from a life lacking what the novel suggests are base human emotions.
Bibliography w/4 sources Cry , the Beloved Country by Alan Paton is a perfect example of post-colonial literature. South Africa is a colonized country, which is, in many ways, still living under oppression. Though no longer living under apartheid, the indigenous Africans are treated as a minority, as they were when Paton wrote the book. This novel provides the political view of the author in both subtle and evident ways. Looking at the skeleton of the novel, it is extremely evident that relationship of the colonized vs. colonizers, in this case the blacks vs. the whites, rules the plot. Every character’s race is provided and has association with his/her place in life. A black man kills a white man, therefore that black man must die. A black umfundisi lives in a valley of desolation, while a white farmer dwells above on a rich plot of land. White men are even taken to court for the simple gesture of giving a black man a ride. This is not a subtle point, the reader is immediately stricken by the diversities in the lives of the South Africans.
I have always thought that Nelson Mandela has been one of the most important people in history. I find it very fascinating that one man could end the Apartheid and that is why I want to find out more about this. South Africa is a country with a past of enforced racism and separation of its multi-racial community. The White Europeans invaded South Africa and started a political system known as 'Apartheid' (meaning 'apartness'). This system severely restricted the rights and lifestyle of the non-White inhabitants of the country forcing them to live separately from the White Europeans. I have chosen to investigate how the Apartheid affected people’s lives, and also how and why the Apartheid system rose and fell in South Africa.
When reading J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace, before delving into the character studies interwoven in this novel, it is essential to first understand the backdrop of Apartheid as an institution. Apartheid had a socioeconomic effect on the different cultural groups in South Africa that eventually affects the main protagonists in this novel. Disgrace, a novel by J.M. Coetzee, implies that David Lurie embodies the pre-arpartheid era, while Lucy represents post-apartheid.